


Mass Effect Ficlets

by OpalizedBone



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Cheating, Crying, F/F, Feels, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, I’m dying, Kissing, Please don't die, Pre-Suicide Mission, Sad, Short One Shot, Shorts, after the war, chapter 5 has shepard cheating on liara with kelly, hhhh i'm in my feelings, this hurt me so much to write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-22 05:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16591781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpalizedBone/pseuds/OpalizedBone
Summary: this is just gonna be a series of short ficlets for shiara and/or mass effect in general! ranging from 350-1000 words, probably. they won't follow any order and may or may not follow canonmass effect is always good inspiration :')mostly angst and hurt/comfort!!





	1. Stay for Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: “stay for me”  
> set right before the suicide mission in me2! it’s really short but i like it anyways

“Stay for me.”   
  
Liara’s voice was quiet, almost desperate. She knew it was a selfish thing to ask, she knew Shepard couldn’t heed her request. The fate of the galaxy rested on her shoulders. But right then, Liara wanted to be selfish. She wanted Shepard to give in, to say yes, to abandon this idiotic suicide mission and stay there with her on the Shadow Broker’s ship. It would be easy to slip away, to take a ship and get lost in the empty spaces between the stars.

 

Shepard stepped closer, one hand raising to cup her cheek gently. The look on her face shattered Liara’s heart.

 

“You know I can’t do that,” Shepard murmured, and Liara felt tears welling in her eyes. Shepard’s jaw clenched, and her other hand came up, cradling Liara’s face in her palms.

 

“Please,” Liara gasped, the tears threatening to spill over. “For me, Shepard.”

 

“I can’t,” Shepard whispered, her own eyes shining. “I have to do this.”

 

“You don’t,” Liara said, and the tears spilled, thick tracks carving down her cheeks, Shepard’s thumbs trying futilely to wipe them away. “You could stay. With me.”

 

“Liara…” Shepard’s voice cracked, and she leaned in, pressing her lips to Liara’s. It was wet, messy, her tears not stopping. Liara kissed her back with a desperation that surprised even her, wrapping her arms around Shepard’s neck and pulling her in tight, as is she were afraid Shepard would disappear. Shepard responded in kind, dragging her as close as she could, kissing her over and over and over. Liara could feel Shepard shaking, the waves of fear and desperate want and anxiety rolling over her even without a meld.

 

When they broke apart, Liara sobbed, wrapping her arms around Shepard and pressing her face to her shoulder. Shepard held her, and Liara could feel wet drops hitting the top of her crest. She cried harder knowing Shepard was crying, too.

 

“I can’t stay,” Shepard rasped, “But I promise I’ll come back.”

 

Liara could hear the determination, the truth, to Shepard’s words, and willed herself to believe it, if only for the moment.


	2. Are You Still Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: "are you still alive?"  
> the crew finding Shepard after the end of me3. i apparently can't write just straight angst of this moment--it's too sad if i do... so here's this slightly-optimistic version of it :)  
> also, i changed the wording slightly!

When they found Shepard, she was nothing more than a charred, vaguely human-shaped lump of flesh. Tali was the first to spot her. She was buried under rubble, unmoving, and when she saw her, Tali’s heart clenched.

 

“She’s here!” Tali called out, and everyone stopped their search in the debris and began making their way over. Tali knelt beside Shepard, using her omni-tool to scan for signs of life. Miranda appeared, dropping to her knees on Shepard’s other side, and began making diagnostics with her own scanner. Tali could see the grief on Miranda’s face, and realized her own mask was growing foggy with her tears. Shepard was just so broken.

 

Liara heard Tali’s shout and whipped her head up. She was far, across a field of rubble and burned debris, and Liara stood up, trying to reach Tali as fast as possible. Her heart was in her throat; was Shepard alive? Could she be alive? They’d all seen the explosion from the crucible…

 

Clearing a large section of wall, Liara caught her first look at Commander Shepard. Most of the squad was there already, hanging back with pained looks on their faces, but Tali and Miranda knelt by her, omni-tools glowing. Liara could barely recognize her bondmate; her face was bloody and burned, her left leg looked beyond repairing, and her left arm was simply...gone. Twisted flesh and mangled cybernetics made up most of her body, and Liara caught the scent of burned hair.

 

“Shepard!” Liara cried out, and rushed forward, dropping down beside Shepard’s head. “Goddess...is she still alive?”

 

It was a stupid question, one she couldn’t bear to ask, but one that burst from her chest without thought. Nobody said anything for a long moment, and Liara’s lip trembled.

 

“Is she alive?” Liara asked again, desperately. She couldn’t take her eyes off Shepard’s torn face. Her hands fluttered uselessly for a moment before she pressed them into her lap, afraid of making things worse by touching Shepard.

 

“I don’t…” Tali began, her voice wobbly. Her omni-tool beeped erratically, and Liara looked up at her, then Miranda. Her heart leapt when she saw the relief suddenly wash over Miranda’s face.

 

“Yes,” Miranda said, and she sounded half determined, half incredulous. “The cybernetics must have kept her alive...I need to get her to the Normandy’s med bay. It has everything the Lazarus project did.”

 

“She needs a hospital,” Ashley protested, and Liara glanced up at her.

 

“Miranda rebuilt her before, and she can do it again,” Garrus pointed out.

 

“Can you?” Liara asked Miranda, desperation coloring her voice. “Can you help her?”

 

Miranda’s jaw set, and she got that stubborn look on her face they all knew all too well.

 

“I can, and I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen you can't tell me Miranda wouldn't be able to piece Shepard back together again okay,,,


	3. Strange Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: "you met me at a strange time in my life."  
> this was technically from a 'soft angst' prompt given to me on tumblr by sky-ham, but i was having some trouble giving it the amount of angst it probably needed. so have this slightly-fluffy hurt/comfort-type thing instead :)  
> the ending isn't quite how i wanted it, but if i went any farther i probably would have severely strayed from the prompt so,,,  
> set sometime during me1! a bit prior to their relationship, but there's definitely some feelings on both sides already ;)

The visions that the beacon gave Shepard  _ burned.  _ They were blinding, agonizing, all-consuming; they nearly knocked her out each and every time. They were  _ overwhelming,  _ and the only person to have been able to help her so far was Liara. Through the meld, Liara had been able to begin to sort out what the visions meant, and the attacks had become less frequent.

 

Not infrequent enough, however.

 

Shepard was caught by surprise, having just entered the back of the med bay to speak with Liara. Sharp pain lanced through her skull, sending her to her knees. She might’ve cried out; she wasn’t sure. The vision flashed across her field of vision, wiping out everything else, and for a few long moments, it was all she was aware of.

 

_ Pain. Death. Red. Blood. Fear. Agony. War. Destruction. _

 

“Commander? Commander!” 

 

Liara’s voice filtered through from the edges of her hearing. Shepard latched onto it like a lifeline, dragging herself out of the vision achingly slowly. Blinking blurry eyes, Shepard gradually became aware of her surroundings. She was on her knees, palms braced against the floor, and Liara was knelt next to her, one hand laid hesitantly on her shoulder. She looked up into the worried eyes of her squadmate, shaking her head to dissipate the last of the vision.

 

“Are you all right?” Liara asked, eyes sweeping her form scrutinizingly. Shepard felt a brief stab of shame; she was the Commander, and here the inexperienced newbie was worried about her.

 

“Yeah...You met me at a very strange time in my life,” Shepard managed to quip with a small smile. Liara tilted her head slightly, those blue eyes clearly concerned.

 

“It seems like the attacks are becoming worse, Commander,” Liara pointed out gently.

 

“It’s okay, Liara,” Shepard assured her, beginning to stand up. “Don’t worry about me.”

 

She stumbled as she made it to her feet, but Liara was there to catch her, steadying her swaying form with surprisingly strong hands.

 

“Commander?” Liara’s voice was even more worried now. “Perhaps you should sit down.”

 

Shepard sighed.

 

“I’ll sit down if you agree to call me Shepard,” she bargained, and Liara flushed, her cheeks painted a soft shade of lavender.

 

“Alright...Shepard.”

 

Shepard smiled and pulled up a chair to join Liara at her work station.


	4. Behind the Scenes of ME2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something short and bittersweet :')   
> how Liara reacted to finding Shepard's body and giving it to Cerberus in the beginning of ME2. i figured that she wouldn't have been able to handle it nearly as well as she let on, so...  
> yeah this is sad...but Shepard comes back so it's okay! eventually! :D

Liara managed to hold herself together in public. She had to, in order to get Shepard back. Dealing with the Shadow Broker, dodging the Alliance soldiers, outwitting the Collectors--it took every ounce of determination and hope she had. But she did it, because Cerberus had told her they could bring Shepard back to life.

 

She wasn’t entirely sure she believed Cerberus. But they’d at least given her  _ hope,  _ something she’d lost as she watched the destruction of the  _ Normandy  _ from the window of the escape pod. She had waited with baited breath, desperately searching for another escape pod to emerge. There had been a few moments of elation as she saw one, only to learn from Joker over the radio that Shepard wasn’t inside. 

 

Then had begun the desperate search for Shepard’s body.

 

Something, anything, to give her closure.

 

And then Cerberus had contacted her. Her, Liara, the awkward prothean researcher who’d somehow managed to capture the attention of Commander Shepard. They’d told her they could bring her back, and Liara had allowed herself to believe them. Because what else could she do? Accept that Shepard was gone for good?

 

No. Liara couldn’t-- _ wouldn’t _ \--believe that.

 

And so she’d hardened her heart and risked her own life to recover Shepard’s body. She’d nearly died doing so.

 

And when she was done, when Shepard was handed over to Cerberus and she was away from prying eyes and ears, Liara sobbed. Seeing Shepard, the first person she ever cared for in that way, so horribly broken...she barely held it together in public, and didn’t bother trying to in private. 

 

Great heaving sobs wracked her frame as she rocked back and forth, unable to banish the image from her mind. She hadn’t even recognized Shepard, only knew it was her from the dog tags she now held in her fist. She clutched them to her chest, wetness streaming down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. She cried and willed herself to believe that Shepard would come back. She had to come back. She had to. 

 

And still, Liara sobbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's face it, seeing the love of your life as horribly mangled as Shepard canonly was after the destruction of the Normandy would be devastating :')


	5. Calling Out Your Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when Liara said she couldn’t go with Shepard, she found comfort in someone else’s arms. But it feels wrong, so wrong, to be with anyone but Liara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> set during me2! my shepard will always remain faithful to Liara, but the idea of Shepard finding comfort with Kelly after Liara refused to join her during me2 was so interesting i couldn’t stop thinking about it.
> 
> i figured Liara would have access to the Normandy’s secret cameras, even when she’s just an info broker, before she becomes the Shadow Broker.

* * *

Liara peered at the screen, eyes narrowed against the tears that threatened to spill. Surely she was misunderstanding, surely this wasn’t what it looked like...

 

Shepard, her Shepard, miraculously alive, had come to visit her on Illium not long ago. She’d wanted to drop everything and rejoin her Commander on the Normandy, but she couldn’t. She had a mission of her own, and she’d told Shepard so. Shepard had understood, had told her she’d wait for her.

 

And then Shepard had invited that Kelly Chambers up for dinner in her cabin.

 

Liara refused to believe it was anything more than a friendly meal. Kelly had flirted with Shepard before, but from what Liara had seen in the videos, Shepard hadn’t exactly reciprocated. And she’d promised to wait for Liara.

 

But now, here she was on the screen, kissing Kelly, her hands pulling the women in by her waist just like she’d done to Liara so many times before. Her forehead crumpled as Liara watched the two make their way over to the bed. 

 

The tears in Liara’s eyes spilling over as she forced herself to watch the two women on the screen, wondering why Shepard was doing this, why she suddenly wasn’t good enough for her.

 

Then Kelly froze, looking up from between Shepard’s legs. Shepard had her head thrown back, hands tangled in Kelly’s hair, but Kelly suddenly pulled away and started getting dressed. Shepard’s head lifted, and Liara realized her cheeks were shiny with tears. Liara backed up the video and switched on the sound, wondering what had happened. If Kelly has hurt her somehow...

 

Shepard’s moans were loud in her earpiece, and she nearly sobbed, hearing those wonderful sounds being pulled from her commander by another woman. And then she did sob, as she heard what had caused Kelly to leave.

 

”Liara!” Shepard gasped, clutching Kelly closer. Liara watched again as Kelly got up, as Shepard looked up with tears streaming down her cheeks. Liara pressed a hand to her mouth, watching as Shepard curled up on the bed alone. 

 

Feeling sick to her stomach, Liara finally closed the vid, sitting back and trying desperately to stop crying. Shepard obviously still wanted her; why would she go to Kelly? Why would Shepard do this to her? 

 

Some part of Liara couldn’t help but feel it was her fault. She’d said no, had refused to go with Shepard, despite her wanting to. Besides, Shepard had died two years ago. Any thoughts of monogamy had surely died with her.

 

Except Shepard had promised to wait for Liara, had obviously wanted her, not Kelly. And Liara had been faithful these last two years, had held out hope that Cerberus really could bring her lover back to her, safe and sound. She’d waited for Shepard for two years, and Shepard apparently couldn’t wait for her for a few short months.

 

The pain made her chest ache, made her breath come in great heaving sobs. She curled in on herself, hugging her chest as if that could keep her heart from shattering, as if she could hold herself together. Tears courses down her cheeks and dropped off her chin, splashing on her lap, soaking into the material of her dress. Pain lanced through her chest with every shaking, gasping sob.

 

Squeezing her eyes shut against the world, Liara sobbed, alone in her office, wishing she could understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah this hurts too much, my shepard will be faithful to Liara no matter what :’)  
> i was gonna make this a little longer originally, but this hurt a lot to write and i basically couldn’t do it lmao,,,


End file.
